TEHRAN Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will travel Friday to Iran for a four-day official visit that will include discussion of economic ties between the two major oil producers, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

A joint Iranian-Venezuelan economic and industrial committee will be formed during the visit, Hamid Reza Assefi said Wednesday.

Chavez, accompanied by Foreign Minister Alfonso Davila and other political and economic officials, will also take a trip outside the capital, including to the central city of Isfahan.

The Venezuelan leader is traveling to Iran from Russia and will leave Tehran on Tuesday for India.

Iran and Venezuela, both members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), consult regularly on oil issues. Iranian President Mohammad Khatami attended an OPEC summit in Caracas in September.

Iran is also a member of the G-15, a group of developing nations currently chaired by Venezuela and meant as a counterweight to the G-7 group of industrialized nations.